Evolution Poll. where does DU Stand

[Perky]

In comparsion to the 808 surveyed.

How were humans created?

[Lochloosa]

1. Everytime I go swimming in the ocean

I feel at home...:D

[ChairmanAgnostic]

10. Well, every time I am swimming in the ocean and have to pee, I

make myself feel at home.

Usually has something to do with the liquid intake before entering a large body of water.
In the midwest, we ain't got much except Lake Michigan. (you have to fight off the smell of coconut oil, though, and only for 3 months out of the year.)

[slackmaster]

25. When you swim in the ocean you are back in the food chain

Seriously, it's a dangerous place.

(I am a strong ocean swimmer and bodysurfer BTW.)

[longship]

2. Kick

Interesting question. I would kind of like to know this myself.

[ComerPerro]

3. Even if I thought there were some "designer", that shouldn't be taught

Its completely irrelevant if there was a designer or not.

To me, ID just confirms that evolution is a credible theory.

They are just trying to force God into it.

But IDers believe in evolution. They can't deny that.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. None

because I think God IS the laws of science, including evolution. My concept of God is such that God doesn't act the way you describe.

[patrice]

12. Bingo!

By definition, God is all-poweful, i.e. not limited to ANY human conception.

So I would say we came here by means of Evolution, but I can't say Evolution alone, because I know too much about the nature of proof.

And I can't say Evolution + God, because I don't believe it is possible to be completely accurate about whatever it is that we are refering to by means of the word "God".

[GreenPartyVoter]

I tink God is in the mix, but I think "guidance" may npt be the word I

would use. I see him as being more hands-offish than that, I guess.

[booksenkatz]

5. What about those of us who are agnostic

I know we evolved, there's no question in my mind about that; however, I have no idea if there was a god-force behind it or not and I don't see how anyone can possibly know that.

[Seabiscuit]

6. Belief in a God doesn't have to be at odds with scientific evolution.

It's the fundies that distort it all by attacking Darwinism.

Darwinism is entirely consistent with a God that created the universe as well as the evolutionary process by which all life on earth, including human, developed over millions of years.

[Journeyman]

7. I see very little evidence for evolution. . .

in the newspapers these days, or on the radio or tv -- too many simians who do nothing better than belch and grunt are seemingly in charge to give much credence to the idea we've moved beyond that stage.

Maybe the effort would be better spent trying to improve our understanding of where we're going instead of where we're from.

[northzax]

8. here is all the evidence you need

http://www.bestadsontv.com/ad_details.php?id=634


this is in ireland, the most catholic country you can imagine. you know what the freepers would say if this aired stateside?

seriously, watch it, it's funny stuff.

[Ravenseye]

18. LOL

Love it. Good things come to those who wait. Too funny.

[DBoon]

9. By De-evolution

look at where we are now.

How can you deny the truth of de-evolution?

[-..__...]

19. "Are we not men"?

[DBoon]

23. We are devo

[Quixote1818]

11. I voted for "By Evolution Alone" however I am an agnostic

and don't believe in dealing in absolutes. It's possible their is some kind of creator behind things but as with the Deists I think the laws of Nature were set into motion at the beginning of time. Knowing if a magical force started things off is impossible to determine at this point in time.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

16. but the devolution post has some strength to it, obviously.

How else to explain Neoconmanism? Ann Coulter? Britney Spareus? Tom DeLay? George Bus?

[Quixote1818]

21. Too much silver in their silverware

It seems to me that silver does more damage to the human brain than lead poisoning does.

[AX10]

13. My Grandfather and I believe in God in the same way.

ayeshahaqqiqa said: "I think God IS the laws of science, including evolution. My concept of God is such that God doesn't act the way you describe."

In addition, (AX10) I belive that God is omnipotent and ever evolving/changing. We humans are the result of God's existance. Elements of God are embodied in various ways within all of existance.

[Ediacara]

14. Unfortunately, even on DU, there are some who chose to deny reality

You may or may not believe in God's guiding hand, but evolution has occured, is occuring, and will continue to occur. There's simply no way to get around the observed factual basis of evolution. By whatever definition you chose (change in allele frequency from one generation to another, speciation, etc), evolution has been observed.

[jsamuel]

15. what I believe or what belongs in a science class?

[Benhurst]

17. Designer genes are so ...

so '70s.

[Balbus]

20. Teach evolution in school, creationism in church - eom

[bigwillq]

22. I believe in the theory of evolution (nt)

[slackmaster]

24. Being Agnostic the proper answer for me would be "Not sure"

But I checked "Evolution alone" because it's the closest to what I actually believe.

[Cleita]

26. None of your choices are correct.

Each human is created by his/her parents. Try a different way of wording this. Like, "do you believe the material and biological world came into being because of a God or Gods?" Or, "do you accept the scientific version, that admits theories like the big bang are only theories, and no one knows for sure."

[McKenzie]

27. Ignore religous dogma: Spirituality is part of our evolution

There are difficulties with some aspects of evolutionary theory, particularly the origins of life itself. However, it is beyond doubt that mutations occur; we see the nasty ones in virii; the beneficial ones tend to go unnoticed because we are those beneficial mutations (apart from Freepers who will eventually head to an evolutionary dead end...by that time Fitz gets through there will be so few of them left they will be forced to practice incest and will breed offspring with one eye in the middle of their foreheads - that will hasten their demise)

Anyway, all species get those attributes that help their evolutionary ascent. We are bipods, for example, which is efficient. Likewise our bodies are probably as far evolved as they will go, physically, after aeons of evolution.

So where do we go from here if we assume evolution is a dynamic process? Well, look at the size of our brains compared to the size they would need to be to function. There is a huge bit of the brain we don't use which raises very interesting questions about why it is so damned big. It is that way for a reason but what on earth could that reason be? The answer possibly lies in evolution and how it proceeds; using the characteristics we have advances evolution.

I suspect, therefore, we have evolved a capacity for love of art, beauty, spiritual introspection, compassion and so on for evolutionary reasons. The key to unlocking the huge potential we have inside us lies in allowing those characteristics to come to the fore...regularly. No doubt this post will attract some critical coments which is fine. Besides which, I don't give a rat's ass...LOL! That out of the way, I am utterly convinced that a move away from our PATHETIC lifestyle towards things that will nurture the spiritual side of our nature will have profound effects on how we live. Quite possibly it will stop us totally fucking up the planet or using war to sort out our problems. The latter would not happen if people were sufficiently aware, spiritually, to realise what killing people actually looks, sounds and smells like.

I'm not introducing God per se via the back door here; I'm simply hypothesising that if evolution is dynamic homo sapiens has nowhere left to go physically. The next evolutionary step is probably in the mind and practising true spirituality is the key to going along that road. Not the dry dogma of religion...real reflection on what we are and what we want to be. Ask yourself...when was the last time the human race sat down and thought about where we are headed? Rhetorical question because our headless chicken boogie to nowhere is taken as an article of faith (pun definitely intended)

A little clarification. By "spiritual" I refer to helping other people selflessly, abandoning material acquisition for its own sake and nurturing everything cultural (art, architecture (yeah!), music, poetry and so on) If donning sackcloth, and standing in the garden when it's pissing with rain, does it for you then fine - just don't ask me to join you.

Logicians will see flaws in what I've said. Fine. But, logic falls apart when we start to understand what Quantum Theory entails; the little I actually understand about it makes my head spin. And try imagining infinity. Infinity must exist but even as a closed system it is unimaginable. Just because our tiny minds cannot understand something does not negate/invalidate whatever it is we are trying to imagine. Logic is only one part of our nature but we do not allow the other side to develop. Until we do we are going to run, lemming-like, over the cliff. And what a bloody waste of the great potential in humans that would be.

Evolution has left us with something we feel compelled to nurture and develop I call it "spirituality" and it is damned important imo. And it doesn't need belief in a deity.

<edit> grammar/meaning